Chapter 9: Lightning in a Bottle
As a toddler, Autumn: The events in this chapter described by Autumn de Forest come from a telephone interview conducted on Oct. 30, 2014. The events in this chapter described by Doug de Forest come from telephone interviews conducted on Nov. 19, 2014, and April 7 and Sept. 7, 2015; and e-mail. Autumn’s story was also drawn from her Web site, marketing materials, and news reports, including “Could Most Modern Art Be Done by an 8-Year-Old? This Child Prodigy Proves That It Can!,” Daily Mail, Oct. 15, 2010; “Pint-Size Picasso,” Time for Kids, Aug. 30, 2013; “Autumn de Forest Interview: Young Prodigy Artist Inspires and Gives Back,” TeensWannaKnow.com, June 7, 2014; Veronica, “Autumn de Forest on Artistic Inspiration!,” SweetyHigh.com, April 23, 2014; Hugo Kugiya, “She’s Just 8, yet She’s Painted Art Worth $250,000,” Today, Oct. 13, 2010; Bailey Powell, “An Interview with Child Prodigy Autumn de Forest,” Fort Worth Key Magazine, Sept. 29, 2012; Terri Bryce Reeves, “Prodigy Autumn de Forest Is Latest Artist in de Forest Family,” Tampa Bay Times, Nov. 8, 2012; Camille Moore and Brittany Taylor, “11-Year-Old Painter Autumn de Forest Spills What It’s Like to Be an Art Prodigy,” Girls’ Life, July 4, 2013; Stephanie Anderson Witmer, “Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Talents,” USA Today Back to School, Fall 2014; Erika Pope, “Empowering Autumn,” Vegas Seven, Nov. 11, 2010; “Seven-Year-Old Artist Expected to Draw Attention at This Year’s Malibu Chamber Arts Festival,” Malibu Surfside News, July 16, 2009; Ben Marcus, “The Malibu Arts Festival Sets Up Camp at the Civic Center This Weekend,” Malibu Times, July 22, 2009; Erica Tempesta, “Child Prodigy Autumn de Forest on Painting and Being One of Aéropostale’s Epic Kids,” Styleite, Feb. 17, 2014; “10 Art Prodigies You Should Know,” Huffington Post, July 27, 2012; Julia Halperin, “From the Palettes of Babes: Four Prodigious Child Artists to Watch,” Huffington Post, Jan. 31, 2011; and Autumn’s television appearances, including on Home & Family, One on One with Steve Adubato, Discovery Health, Studio 10, Inside Edition, The Wendy Williams Show, and Daytime.
“little kid drawings”: Autumn de Forest, telephone interview, Oct. 30, 2014.
“Like a Rothko”: Reeves, “Prodigy Autumn de Forest Is Latest Artist in de Forest Family.”
“You see a spark”: Witmer, “Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Talents.”
“Sometimes I wish”: Autumn de Forest, Autumn de Forest Art Fans, Facebook, June 11, 2012.
“fancy deer”: Autumn’s words at the time as recalled by Doug de Forest.
“My spirit was on fire”: Moore and Taylor, “11-Year-Old Painter Autumn de Forest Spills What It’s Like to Be an Art Prodigy.”
She sold Paradise: Information about Autumn’s art sales provided by Doug de Forest.
“an old lady in a young”: The Wendy Williams Show, backstage conversation, clip available on Autumn’s Web site.
“a pistol”: “Eight-Year-Old Girl Dazzles Art World,” Today, Oct. 14, 2010.
In one interview: Tempesta, “Child Prodigy Autumn de Forest on Painting and Being One of Aéropostale’s Epic Kids.”
The prodigies’ average overall IQ score: For more information on the prodigies’ cognitive profiles, see Joanne Ruthsatz, Kimberly Ruthsatz-Stephens, and Kyle Ruthsatz, “The Cognitive Bases of Exceptional Abilities in Child Prodigies by Domain: Similarities and Differences,” Intelligence 44 (2014): 11–14.
There was only one real: If you drop that child’s score, the range for working memory was 132–158.
fluid reasoning: “Frequently Asked Questions About the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition,” Thomson Nelson.
Same story with: For more information on what each of these subtests is intended to measure, see Joel W. Schneider and Kevin S. McGrew, “The Cattell-Horn-Carroll Model of Intelligence,” in Contemporary Intellectual Assessment, 3rd ed., ed. Dawn P. Flanagan and Patti L. Harrison (New York: Guilford Press, 2012); and Dawn P. Flanagan and Shauna G. Dixon, “The Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory of Cognitive Abilities,” in Encyclopedia of Special Education, ed. Cecil R. Reynolds, Kimberly J. Vannest, and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2013). For information as to which subtests are rooted in which Cattell-Horn-Carroll cognitive abilities, see Henry L. Janzen, John E. Obrzut, and Christopher W. Marusiak, “Test Review: Roid, G. H. (2003). Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB:V). Itasca, Ill.: Riverside Publishing,” Canadian Journal of School Psychology 19, nos. 1 and 2 (Dec. 2004): 235–44.
prodigious skill in science: Feldman and Morelock, “Prodigies and Savants.”
They had an average score: Some researchers have suggested that musical practice may improve working memory. See, for example, Sissela Bergman Nutley, Fahimeh Darki, and Torkel Klingberg, “Music Practice Is Associated with Development of Working Memory During Childhood and Adolescence,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7 (2014).
“seeing with the mind’s eye”: For more on mental imagery, see Stephen Michael Kosslyn, Image and Brain: The Resolution of the Imagery Debate (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996).
A spatial visualizer’s mental imagery: Some argue that spatial visualization should be further broken down into spatial location and mental transformation. See William L. Thompson et al., “Two Forms of Spatial Imagery: Neuroimaging Evidence,” Psychological Science 20, no. 10 (2009): 1245–53.
A 1985 study: David N. Levine, Joshua Warach, and Martha Farah, “Two Visual Systems in Mental Imagery: Dissociation of ‘What’ and ‘Where’ in Imagery Disorders Due to Bilateral Posterior Cerebral Lesions,” Neurology 35, no. 7 (1985): 1010–18.
The Stanford-Binet: Janzen, Obrzut, and Marusiak, “Test Review: Roid, G. H. (2003).”
“ability to perceive complex”: Schneider and McGrew, “Cattell-Horn-Carroll Model of Intelligence,” 129. See also Flanagan and Dixon, “The Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory of Cognitive Abilities.”
This type of visualization: See, for example, Maria Kozhevnikov et al., “Creativity, Visualization Abilities, and Visual Cognitive Style,” British Journal of Educational Psychology 83, no. 2 (2013): 196–209.
Consider, for example: “Groupon, Qatar, Jake Barnett.”
Galileo similarly visualized: Arthur I. Miller, Insights of Genius: Imagery and Creativity in Science and Art (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000).
In theory, this left object: Olesya Blazhenkova and Maria Kozhevnikov have advocated for recognizing object visualization as a component of intelligence. See “Visual-Object Ability: A New Dimension of Non-Verbal Intelligence,” Cognition 117, no. 3 (2010): 276–301.
a skill tied to artistic ability: See, for example, Kozhevnikov et al., “Creativity, Visualization Abilities, and Visual Cognitive Style.”
the price of excelling at one: Maria Kozhevnikov, Olesya Blazhenkova, and Michael Becker, “Trade-Off in Object Versus Spatial Visualization Abilities: Restriction in the Development of Visual-Processing Resources,” Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 17, no. 1 (2010): 29–35.
“I just hear it”: “Musical Prodigy, Bluejay,” 60 Minutes. For more information on Jay, see Matthew Gurewitsch, “Early Works of a New Composer (Very Early, in Fact),” New York Times, Aug. 13, 2006.
Jacob Barnett, the science prodigy: Kristine Barnett, Spark.
The music prodigy Jonathan: Eve Weiss, telephone interview, Jan. 20, 2014.
The object and spatial visualization abilities: For a brief overview, see Kozhevnikov, Blazhenkova, and Becker, “Trade-Off in Object Versus Spatial Visualization Abilities.” See also Levine, Warach, and Farah, “Two Visual Systems in Mental Imagery.”
Over several decades, researchers: Scientists have sought out abnormalities in brain structure and functioning as well. We are focusing here on those factors that have also been investigated in prodigies—behaviors, cognitive tendencies, and genetics. But for a paper arguing that attempts to find a brain abnormality shared by all autists have failed, see Lynn Waterhouse and Chris
topher Gillberg, “Why Autism Must Be Taken Apart,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 44, no. 7 (2014): 1788–92.
“the children’s inability to relate”: Kanner, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact,” 242.
But in the early years: For a review of the varying autism criteria used by early investigators, see Rutter, “Diagnosis and Definition of Childhood Autism.”
By the early 1970s: Michael Rutter, “Autistic Children: Infancy to Adulthood,” Seminars in Psychiatry 2, no. 4 (1970): 435–50.
“into question the usefulness”: Wing and Gould, “Severe Impairments of Social Interaction and Associated Abnormalities in Children,” 27.
Recently, a team: Francesca Happé and Angelica Ronald, “The ‘Fractionable Autism Triad’: A Review of Evidence from Behavioural, Genetic, Cognitive, and Neural Research,” Neuropsychology Review 18, no. 4 (2008): 287–304.
Even autistic siblings: Ryan K. C. Yuen et al., “Whole-Genome Sequencing of Quartet Families with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Nature Medicine 21, no. 2 (2015): 185–91.
“if you’ve met one person with autism”: This quotation is often attributed to Stephen Shore, a clinical assistant professor at Adelphi University who frequently speaks and writes about autism.
Researchers struggled mightily: For a brief review, see Francesca Happé, Angelica Ronald, and Robert Plomin, “Time to Give Up on a Single Explanation for Autism,” Nature Neuroscience 9, no. 10 (2006): 1218–20.
Initial optimism: For a discussion of the historical perspective, see Judith H. Miles, “Autism Spectrum Disorders—a Genetics Review,” Genetics in Medicine 13, no. 4 (2011): 278–94.
Researchers found not one: For a review, see Jamee M. Berg and Daniel H. Geschwind, “Autism Genetics: Searching for Specificity and Convergence,” Genome Biology 13, no. 7 (2012): 247.
Even the most prevalent: Shafali S. Jeste and Daniel H. Geschwind, “Disentangling the Heterogeneity of Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Genetic Findings,” Nature 10, no. 2 (2014): 74–81.
“the genetic architecture”: D. Q. Ma et al., “A Genome-Wide Association Study of Autism Reveals a Common Novel Risk Locus at 5p14.1,” Annals of Human Genetics 73, no. 3 (2009): 268–73, 270.
It turns out that even: Yuen et al., “Whole-Genome Sequencing of Quartet Families with Autism Spectrum Disorder.”
This heterogeneity of behaviors: For two examples, see Eric B. London, “Categorical Diagnosis: A Fatal Flaw for Autism Research?,” Trends in Neurosciences 37, no. 12 (2014): 683–86; and Happé, Ronald, and Plomin, “Time to Give Up on a Single Explanation for Autism.”
He and his team have tied: See, for example, Philip Awadalla et al., “Direct Measure of the De Novo Mutation Rate in Autism and Schizophrenia Cohorts,” American Journal of Human Genetics 87, no. 3 (2010): 316–24.
It was this idea: Guy Rouleau, telephone interview, Dec. 18, 2014.
One group of researchers: Nurmi et al., “Exploratory Subsetting of Autism Families Based on Savant Skills Improves Evidence of Genetic Linkage to 15q11-q13.”
But when another team: Ma et al., “Ordered-Subset Analysis of Savant Skills in Autism for 15q11-q13.”
Chapter 10: The Recovery Enigma
Her older son, Alex: Lucie, telephone interview, Sept. 4, 2014; Alex, Grade 5 Report Card, June 19, 2015.
Her second son, William: Lucie, telephone interview, Sept. 12, 2014; and e-mail; Josh (William’s math teacher), telephone interview, Oct. 14, 2014; William, Grade 4 Report Card, June 19, 2015.
patient who no longer seemed autistic: See, for example, Kanner and Eisenberg, “Notes on the Follow-Up Studies of Autistic Children.” The authors include a description of Robert F., an individual characterized as having reached a “higher pinnacle” than the rest. He had served in the navy, married, and was studying musical composition. Still, the authors cautioned that in most cases “emergence” from autism was only “partial.”
“somewhat odd”: Eisenberg, “Autistic Child in Adolescence,” 608.
One study described: Rutter, Greenfeld, and Lockyer, “A Five to Fifteen Year Follow-Up Study of Infantile Psychosis.”
there was a report: Rutter, “Autistic Children.” See also Marian K. DeMyer et al., “Prognosis in Autism: A Follow-Up Study,” Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 3, no. 3 (1973): 233 (describing “two autistic children who were ‘normal’ in all respects at follow-up”); Janet L. Brown, “Adolescent Development of Children with Infantile Psychosis,” Seminars in Psychiatry 1 (1969): 79–89 (identifying some autistic children eventually deemed “normal,” though noting that “the social development of even the best-functioning of these children will be markedly retarded and that each step is accomplished with painful difficulty”).
Many thought autism: For an overview of recovery-related research, see Molly Helt et al., “Can Children with Autism Recover? If So, How?,” Neuropsychology Review 18, no. 4 (2008): 339–66.
She and her team: Deborah Fein et al., “Optimal Outcome in Individuals with a History of Autism,” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 54, no. 2 (2013): 195–205. This study was a continuation of work that Fein and her team had started earlier. See Elizabeth Kelley et al., “Residual Language Deficits in Optimal Outcome Children with a History of Autism,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 36, no. 6 (2006): 807–28; Elizabeth Kelley, Letitia Naigles, and Deborah Fein, “An In-Depth Examination of Optimal Outcome Children with a History of Autism Spectrum Disorders,” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 4, no. 3 (2010): 526–38. Additional information on Fein’s work comes from a telephone interview with Deborah Fein conducted on March 2, 2015.
They didn’t have any residual: Eva Troyb et al., “Academic Abilities in Children and Adolescents with a History of Autism Spectrum Disorders Who Have Achieved Optimal Outcomes,” Autism 18, no. 3 (2014): 233–43.
They cautioned that an optimal: Fein et al., “Optimal Outcome in Individuals with a History of Autism.”
“the ‘r’ word”: Sally Ozonoff, “Editorial: Recovery from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the Science of Hope,” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 54, no. 2 (2013): 113–14, 114.
“Symptoms alone rarely indicate”: Thomas Insel, “Director’s Blog: Transforming Diagnosis,” National Institute of Mental Health, April 29, 2013, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/.
growing consensus: See, for example, Rutter, “Autistic Children.”
In one of the earliest experiments: C. B. Ferster and Marian K. DeMyer, “The Development of Performances in Autistic Children in an Automatically Controlled Environment,” Journal of Chronic Diseases 13, no. 4 (1961): 312–45.
Two years later, another team: Montrose Wolf, Todd Risley, and Hayden Mees, “Application of Operant Conditioning Procedures to the Behaviour Problems of an Autistic Child,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 1, nos. 2–4 (1963): 305–12.
In contrast to the failure: Laura Schreibman, “Intensive Behavioral/Psychoeducational Treatments for Autism: Research Needs and Future Directions,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 30, no. 5 (2000): 373–78.
In the early 1970s: O. Ivar Lovaas et al., “Some Generalization and Follow-Up Measures on Autistic Children in Behavior Therapy,” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 6, no. 1 (1973): 131–66.
In a follow-up investigation: O. Ivar Lovaas, “Behavioral Treatment and Normal Educational and Intellectual Functioning in Young Autistic Children,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 55, no. 1 (1987): 3–9.
A few years later: John J. McEachin, Tristram Smith, and O. Ivar Lovaas, “Long-Term Outcome for Children with Autism Who Received Early Intensive Behavioral Treatment,” American Journal on Mental Retardation 97, no. 4 (1993): 359–72.
Some scientists suggested: Eric Schopler, Andrew Short, and Gary Mesibov, “Relation of Behavioral Treatment to ‘Normal Functioning’: Comment on Lovaas,” Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 57, no. 1 (1989): 162–64; Peter Mundy, “Normal Versus High-Functioning Status in Children with Autism,” American Journal on Mental Retardation 97, no. 4 (1993): 381–84.
They view efforts to eradicate: See, for example, “Position Statements,” Autistic Self Advocacy Network, http://autisticadvocacy.org/policy-advocacy/position-statements.
recognize the unique contributions: Laurent Mottron, telephone interview, Aug. 16, 2015.
In terms of effectiveness: Amy S. Weitlauf et al. (the Vanderbilt Evidence-Based Practice Center), Therapies for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Behavioral Interventions Update, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Comparative Effectiveness Review 137 (2014): 80.
a 2015 review: Brian Reichow, “Overview of Meta-Analyses on Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 42, no. 4 (2012): 512–20, 518.
The U.S. surgeon general: U.S. Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (National Institute of Mental Health, 1999).
Autism Speaks: “Treatments & Therapies,” Autism Speaks, https://www.autismspeaks.org.
Not every kid who receives: Patricia Howlin, Iliana Magiati, and Tony Charman, “Systematic Review of Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions for Children with Autism,” American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 114, no. 1 (2009): 23–41.
But there were still optimal outcome kids: Alyssa J. Orinstein et al., “Intervention for Optimal Outcome in Children and Adolescents with a History of Autism,” Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 35, no. 4 (2014): 247–56.
Almost from birth, Ping Lian Yeak: The events in this chapter described by Sarah Lee come from e-mail. In addition, Sarah provided photographs, a transcription of Ping Lian’s speech-language assessment dated Nov. 2, 1997, excerpts from her journal, and portions of her manuscript about raising Ping Lian. The events in this chapter described by Rosa C. Martinez come from a telephone interview conducted on March 5, 2015. The events in this chapter described by Laurence A. Becker come from a telephone interview conducted on Dec. 17, 2014. Ping Lian’s story was also drawn from his Web site, marketing materials, and various news reports, including Mark White, “Island of Genius,” Sydney Morning Herald, April 12, 2014; Tan Sher Lynn, “When Love, Hope & Faith Endure,” KL Lifestyle, Jan. 2011; Shanti Ganesan, “Fate & Destiny,” Marie Claire Malaysia, May 2008; Angus Fontaine, “Ping Lian Yeak,” Time Out Sydney, Sept. 19, 2011; “The World Is His Canvas,” Passions, Sept. 2009; Koh Soo Ling, “The Road Less Travelled,” New Straits Times, Jan. 16, 2005; Vivienne Pal, “Strokes of Genius from an 11-Year-Old Autistic Child,” Star, Feb. 3, 2005; Ruth Wong, “Through the Eyes of Love,” Asia!, May 17, 2009; “Brilliant Art of an Autistic Child,” New Straits Times, June 21, 2005; Arni Shahida Razak, “At the Art of Autism,” New Straits Times, Sept. 26, 2004; Andrew Priestley, “World’s Eye on Autistic Artist,” North Shore Times, Jan. 23, 2009; Barbara Foong, “Different Strokes by Special Needs Persons,” New Straits Times, Dec. 10, 2003; Jenny Hatton Mahon, “Autism—The Art of Autism,” Weekendnotes.com, July 9, 2014; Jessica Lim, “Capturing Genius on Film,” New Straits Times, Sept. 11, 2005; and Ping Lian’s television appearance on SBS News.
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